Victoria Hadden - Owner and Co-Founder of SERAFINA
[Originally published 9/13/99]
With all the attention the Internet receives these days, it's easy to overlook non-Web-related business opportunities. SERAFINA capitalized on one such opportunity in the special occasion dress business. Since the fall of 1997, Victoria Hadden and her two partners have bootstrapped their way to stores in New York City and London and trade relationships with specialty stores in over 15 different states.
How would you describe your path to entrepreneurship?
It just sort of happened. I met my partner Mary Greenhill while my husband was at HBS. When we went back to New York after graduation, Mary got engaged and she was telling me what a nightmare the search for bridesmaid dresses was. I had heard the exact same thing from every single friend of mine who had gotten married. I had a few dresses of my own. You either leave them in the closet or burn them as soon as you wear them. Based on our conversation, Mary and I started SERAFINA a week later with our third partner, Lisa McAtee.
Was there a big break that helped launch the company?
One of our first customers was a woman who was writing for The New York Times and she wrote an article on us in the Sunday style section. That pretty much launched the company. After that, we had hundreds of people calling us for dresses. As soon as the word got out about us, one referral led to the next. If you plan a wedding, you always ask all your friends who they used and what they did.
Are there challenges that are specific to the fashion industry?
First of all, everyone will tell you that it can't be done. That was the first thing that we heard from every industry professional that we went to for advice. But we decided to try it anyway. Our model makes us different from other fashion businesses because we're a made-to-order business. We have a lead-time of about three months before people get their dresses. So we don't have inventory and, at the same time, we can test styles in our catalog, Web site, and showrooms to see what works and what doesn't work. With a regular fashion business, you often have a huge up-front investment in a style and once you manufacture it, you could own thousands of pieces. It could kill your company in one season if those pieces don't sell.
What's the most important thing to think about when starting out as an entrepreneur?
Start by choosing a great team. Your partners/team should have complimentary backgrounds, so you can work seamlessly. Establish the rules, goals and responsibilities up front, so everybody knows what they are working towards and what the company structure will look like. Be clear about this in your business plan. Also important is a very specific agreement. This will protect everybody, especially when you are planning to be in business with your friends.
Is it possible to have a personal life as an entrepreneur?
You do not have a personal life the first year. When we opened our first shop in New York, the three of us were doing sales, packaging, designing, lugging boxes to FedEx - everything. It was a true startup. Whether you have a personal life depends on what you do, but I haven't talked with anybody who has started a company who has said that it was easy in the beginning. You might think that at first. In the initial research phase, things are more flexible. But as soon as you have customers and orders and people banging on your door, there are just certain things that have to get done by the end of the day. And at the same time you want to grow the company, so you're dealing with two different things - running it and growing it. That is time-consuming.
When you start a business, you will have to do everything at first. If you set the tracks right though, you can craft the perfect job for yourself. After only 15 months, we are at the stage where this is happening. You can focus on your area of expertise and at the same time, you have more flexibility and can be more creative than somebody who is working for a large corporation. The fact is that when you own a business, every task is viewed as getting you towards the end-goal. That in itself is extremely motivating and gets you going in a very positive way day after day.
With all the attention the Internet receives these days, it's easy to overlook non-Web-related business opportunities. SERAFINA capitalized on one such opportunity in the special occasion dress business. Since the fall of 1997, Victoria Hadden and her two partners have bootstrapped their way to stores in New York City and London and trade relationships with specialty stores in over 15 different states.
How would you describe your path to entrepreneurship?
It just sort of happened. I met my partner Mary Greenhill while my husband was at HBS. When we went back to New York after graduation, Mary got engaged and she was telling me what a nightmare the search for bridesmaid dresses was. I had heard the exact same thing from every single friend of mine who had gotten married. I had a few dresses of my own. You either leave them in the closet or burn them as soon as you wear them. Based on our conversation, Mary and I started SERAFINA a week later with our third partner, Lisa McAtee.
Was there a big break that helped launch the company?
One of our first customers was a woman who was writing for The New York Times and she wrote an article on us in the Sunday style section. That pretty much launched the company. After that, we had hundreds of people calling us for dresses. As soon as the word got out about us, one referral led to the next. If you plan a wedding, you always ask all your friends who they used and what they did.
Are there challenges that are specific to the fashion industry?
First of all, everyone will tell you that it can't be done. That was the first thing that we heard from every industry professional that we went to for advice. But we decided to try it anyway. Our model makes us different from other fashion businesses because we're a made-to-order business. We have a lead-time of about three months before people get their dresses. So we don't have inventory and, at the same time, we can test styles in our catalog, Web site, and showrooms to see what works and what doesn't work. With a regular fashion business, you often have a huge up-front investment in a style and once you manufacture it, you could own thousands of pieces. It could kill your company in one season if those pieces don't sell.
What's the most important thing to think about when starting out as an entrepreneur?
Start by choosing a great team. Your partners/team should have complimentary backgrounds, so you can work seamlessly. Establish the rules, goals and responsibilities up front, so everybody knows what they are working towards and what the company structure will look like. Be clear about this in your business plan. Also important is a very specific agreement. This will protect everybody, especially when you are planning to be in business with your friends.
Is it possible to have a personal life as an entrepreneur?
You do not have a personal life the first year. When we opened our first shop in New York, the three of us were doing sales, packaging, designing, lugging boxes to FedEx - everything. It was a true startup. Whether you have a personal life depends on what you do, but I haven't talked with anybody who has started a company who has said that it was easy in the beginning. You might think that at first. In the initial research phase, things are more flexible. But as soon as you have customers and orders and people banging on your door, there are just certain things that have to get done by the end of the day. And at the same time you want to grow the company, so you're dealing with two different things - running it and growing it. That is time-consuming.
When you start a business, you will have to do everything at first. If you set the tracks right though, you can craft the perfect job for yourself. After only 15 months, we are at the stage where this is happening. You can focus on your area of expertise and at the same time, you have more flexibility and can be more creative than somebody who is working for a large corporation. The fact is that when you own a business, every task is viewed as getting you towards the end-goal. That in itself is extremely motivating and gets you going in a very positive way day after day.
posted by gnp at 3:20 PM
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